I'm going to be creating my own engine soon, but I wonder what the standards are these days. Obviously some effects like HDR, parralax mapping etc. are overkill for a hobbyist engine. However, certain things like billboarding and a decent culling system are always expected. I'd even consider bump mapping, cube mapping, sphere mapping, and environment mapping as a standards as far as pixel shader support.

What other things would you expect from a engine? What are your expectations for a basic game engine.

From a basic engine I would expect something to handle input, graphics, sound and an entity framework. Seems like your expectations includes somewhat more features than found in many commercial engines.

Jare
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2006-06-02T09:49:51Z —
#5

The preferences I wrote up there are just that, preferences, based on my personal opinion as well a good general level of usability (zero cost, commercial-friendly license, simple yet well featured, stable and already proven in large projects, well supported, etc).

Sig, my post was aimed at stressing the difference between a graphics engine (what the OP seemed interested in) and a game engine (what he was asking about). I included those based on the OP's feature list: I wouldn't consider bump mapping more "basic" than memory management or scripting, but YMMV.

Game logic. (updating AI and responding to collisions, updating animations). Entity system (C++ but it's quite well isolated from the rest of the core code. Should be simple and tidy for a third party to modify game stuff. Could compile this section into a .DLL?).

I've no plans to implement network code, sound or music, since I've already got too much on my plate I hope some of this is helpful. It might be overly detailed, but it's basically a running summary of the features I've had to add (some still W.I.P) to get a mock-up game running.

I'm going to be creating my own engine soon, but I wonder what the standards are these days. Obviously some effects like HDR, parralax mapping etc. are overkill for a hobbyist engine. However, certain things like billboarding and a decent culling system are always expected. I'd even consider bump mapping, cube mapping, sphere mapping, and environment mapping as a standards as far as pixel shader support.

What other things would you expect from a engine? What are your expectations for a basic game engine.

Thanks, Mike

You are just spewing buzzwords you don't understand. HDR and parallax mapping are very easy to implement. I suggest you do some research.

I cant say what Jare's reasons are but for me, Zip is prefered as it allows you to get around console manufacturers crappy file systems. It also abstracts away the differences. Although, its not as much of a problem on nextgen.@MikeS

What other things would you expect from a engine? What are your expectations for a basic game engine.

Thats very much how long is a piece of string question. It entirely depends on your requirements. I've made games with very few features from an engine point of view. All you need is something to handle input and some way of outputting that onto the screen to create a game.

MikeS
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2006-06-02T22:09:24Z —
#9

Thanks for the input Jare.

Thanks SigKILL.

Thanks Mark, that's an awesome list and a good guideline for me to use.

@CobraLionz Perhaps, as I admit I have never implemented them into an engine. However, adding these effects to an engine requires extra passes in the renderer, which adds more depth and sophistication to the engine. I'm asking whether or not you'd expect these features in a standard hobbyist engine.

Thanks Dave.

Thanks everyone.

monjardin
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2006-06-03T16:28:40Z —
#10

As a hobbyist, I would want to know why I should use a new engine versus the several stable varieties already available.

If I were interested in creating an engine, I would look for a niche in which to specialize. Trying to cater to ever possible genre can be an overwhelming task for an individual. In other words, imagine a game and then list everything you would need to make that particular game.

As a hobbyist, I would want to know why I should use a new engine versus the several stable varieties already available.

He would probably want to do it because it is fun(tm). Another reason might be to learn, but learning is also fun. There seems to be some people spreading rumors that making an engine is hard and boring. I disagree.

I'm not sure who said that, but I agree...making a little hobby engine may not be too hard, but making a good engine is quite difficult. As for boring, obviously it depends on your point of view, but I'd argue that things like memory management code, geometry (vector/matrix) classes, virtual file-systems, and so forth that make the basis of a modern engine are relatively boring to implement

"Novice programmers think programming is hard. Good programmers think programming is easy. Great programmers know programming is hard." I'm not sure who said that, but I agree...making a little hobby engine may not be too hard, but making a good engine is quite difficult. As for boring, obviously it depends on your point of view, but I'd argue that things like memory management code, geometry (vector/matrix) classes, virtual file-systems, and so forth that make the basis of a modern engine are relatively boring to implement

I think math is hard. However, I would say Galois theory is easy, but only because I know the theory of schemes is way harder. Wheter something should be classified as hard or not is always in a relative context. The topic was started by someone wanting to make a basic engine. Seems like people forgot that...

He would probably want to do it because it is fun(tm). Another reason might be to learn, but learning is also fun.

I was questioning why another hobbyist would want to use the OP's new engine. I was not questioning his reasons for wanting to build his/her own engine. To the contrary, I would like to encourage the OP to do so. My point is that it needs something special for someone else to want to use it. A hobbyist trying to out-feature Ogre is in for a disappointment.

MikeS
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2006-06-04T14:51:24Z —
#15

Hello all,

To anwser the general question of why I want to make an engine. Obviously, what I make will most likely never be as powerful as OGRE, given that

a.) I'm out manned. b.) currently out planned. c.) less experience.

The reasons I want to create an engine however, is to have a general purpose engine to help speed up game development. I like what someone mentioned above about designing for a niche market, and that's probably what I'll do. Certainly games like RPG, FPS, and adventure have more in common then with RTS, Turn-based, and puzzle games.

Why anyone else would want to use my engine is honostly up to them. Simplicity is the most important thing for me when designing, so that means I'd feature a smaller command set then most engines to get the jobs necessary done, thus only the standard things you'd expect from an engine.